The God-Man

Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, open them to Colossians Colossians chapter one. And while we're making apologies for scheduling errors, I'll apologize for doing my sermons out of order. I realized that yesterday I do the one that I'm supposed to do tomorrow, and actually this time I was going to do the one I was supposed to do yesterday. But you know, I guess whatever tonight, we're going to look at the god Man, Jesus Christ, the god Man Jesus, who, when we think about the doctrine of man, has to be at the forefront of our minds because he is all that man ought to be in his humanity, and he has the authority to dictate all that man ought to be in his deity. He is the god Man. And so we'll take a look at the god Man here in Colossians chapter one. But as we do, just be reminded of the fact that the greatest tool, or one of the greatest tools of deception that the enemy has, is the fact that it has been easy to make people appreciate Jesus in his humanity. And you don't need any more evidence for that than Christmas. Amen. Nobody has a problem with Christmas. Nobody. I don't know if it was true this year or last year, as it was in years past that the biggest and most expensive maybe not the biggest, but the most expensive Christmas tree in the world. And I'm all in Abu Dhabi, just wrap your head around that for a moment, and that I'll just tell you all that you need to know, we don't mind at all. In fact, there are people who you whose Jesus in his humanity to argue for their sins. When you think about, for example, the abortion debate, there are people who try to use Jesus in their arguments for abortion. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, billboards I believe some of them here in Florida after the Dobs decision, basically saying, you know, y'all come to California and you'll be able to get abortions, and he used the words of Jesus on the bottom of the billboard. We just don't mind as long as it can just be Jesus in his humanity, Jesus as a good man, Jesus as a wise man, Jesus as an important man who said important and things Jesus as a man who suffered, Jesus as a man who loved unlike any man has ever loved. And all of those things are absolutely true and woefully insufficient. He is the god Man, and we see that here in Colossians chapter one. We're going to look at beginning in verse fifteen and in verses fifteen through twenty, you have two assertions with explanations. The first assertion is that Jesus is the creator God. We see that there in verse fifteen. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Then in verse sixteen you have four, So Paul's going to explain what he means by that. Then in verse eighteen, head of the body of the Church, beginning firstborn from the Dead. In verse nineteen, he has four, and he's going to explain what he means by that. And then then the next paragraph, beginning of verse twenty one, we have the so what. So let's look at those three movements here in this text. The first one is that Jesus is the creator God. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. The Greek theory is that he's the icon of the invisible God. And we all understand what an icon is, right, the picture the image. You have a program on your computer or a program on your phone, and it's you know, gigabytes of data, or there's a hard drive that's pharabytes of data. And the way that you know where that is is that there's an icon. There's an image, and you go to the image. And that's the word that's used here. That Jesus is the icon. Jesus is the physical representation. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible God. God is a spirit and he doesn't have a body like a man. Amen is absolutely one hundred percent true. And that God, who is a spirit and doesn't have a body like man, is incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, the God who spoke the world into existence, wrapped himself in flesh in a virgin's wound, the Creator God. We read it a few moments ago, but let's look at it again, and John One, we read those words. In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him, not anything was made that was made. Apart from him, nothing was made. Jesus is the creator God. It's interesting that there are people who come to this verse and the modern day version of the Arian heresy and Jehovah's witnesses. For example, just a few weeks ago, Satin had a multi hour conversation with a man who was a leading Jehovah's witness in Zimbabwe, our neighbors to the south, and he, just like all Jehovah's witnesses, wanted to hone in on this verse and say that it says there that he's the first born of all creation. He's the first born, which means that he's the first thing that was created. He is a created being. That's what that means, that he was a created being. And again they have to do a bunch of theological gymnastics in John chapter one as well, you know, because John chapter one makes it very clear that he was in the beginning with God. He is eternal with God the Father, and that all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made, Nothing was made apart from him. But the point there was that that word first born has to mean and it's interesting in our context as well, because in our part of the world people use that term. You don't hear when you meet somebody and they have children and they introduce you to their children, the phrase that we use would be, right, this is my oldest or I mean children you have I have you know, I never mean I have nine? We have nine children? Right? Really what are the ages? And I would go my oldest is But in the African context, that's not how speak people speak. They would say, my firstborn is this age, my second born is that age, my third born, And so in that context, because that's the way that people are used to speaking about their children, that Jehoah's witnesses really have something to latchel Onto in that verse, and they say, there it is it's first born. He's the first born, and that has to mean that he was the first thing that was created. It's interesting though, in Exodus chapter four, verses twenty two and twenty three, and we spent a lot of time here during that conversation. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord Israel is my first born son. And I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. And that verse is very important because the word first born is used two different ways in that one statement, Israel is my first born son. That text cannot mean that Israel was the first nation ever created, can't. Doesn't. There's something else there. That word can absolutely mean the first one that was born. But the word also means the pre eminent one, the one who has first place, And that's what it means here the image of the invisible got the firstborn of all creation? How do we know that? Am I just asserting that? No Verse sixteen, there's an explanation four? Why is he the firstborn of all creation? Four? By him all things were created? And then there's a point of emphasis some couplets here in heaven on earth, visible and invisible, whether the thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him, and for he is pre eminent overall creation, because he is the creator. That's what he means, not that Jesus was the first thing that was created so that he could create everything else doesn't fit the context, And it's absolutely unnecessary. Why does God need to create a creator? Amen? If you can create a creator, you can just create. By him, all things were created. This is incredibly important for us to comprehend, incredibly important for us to take in. If we are to fully appreciate Jesus Christ, our Savior, we must first fully appreciate that he is Jesus Christ, our creator. He is Creator God. Everything that we're going to read about who he is and what he's done has to be understood in this context that he is our creator God. He made the world and everything in it, things that are visible and things that are invisible. He made them, thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities. He made them. He is not just pre eminent over them because he became pre eminent. He is not pre eminent over them because he defeated them. He is pre eminent over them because he is their creator. But not only did he make that, not only did he make them. Look at this, all things were created him and for him. They exist because of him, and they exist for him. You exist because of Him, and you exist for him. In other words, your life is not your own. Your life exists for Christ. Your life exists to bring glory to Christ. Your life exists as glory for Christ because of the glory of Christ, and everything that exists exists for Christ. He is God, the Creator, and not only that Verse seventeen. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He's not just the creator, He's the sustainer of all things. Amen. He is my creator, and he is my sustainer. He doesn't just or he didn't just create the world and then leave the world to its own devices. He created the world, and he sustains the world. He upholds the world by the power of his hand. It's his, by him, through him, for him, and he sustains it. He is God, our creator. He is pre eminent over all creation because he is the creator. He is pre eminent over all creation because everything was made by him, Everything was made through him, and everything was made for him. He is pre eminent over all creation because he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And if he didn't, the universe would collapse in on itself. That's who he is. And you can't appreciate what comes next unless and until you appreciate that now verse eighteen. And he is the head of the body the Church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead. There's that word again firstborn, And this is another point that helps us to interpret the way that it was used before first born from the dead. He's either first one whoever died and got back up. No, actually there was another one who died and got back up, because he told him to get up. Amen, Lazarus come forth, and he did so. Would that not make Jesus the second born from the dead. No, he's still the firstborn from the dead because firstborn here means pre eminent, and he's pre eminent in a number of ways, not least of which is that his coming forth from the dead was not like that of Lazarus. Why, because Lazarus had to do it again. Amen, somebody, what a day? Can you imagine? You know, everybody's around Lazarus and they're like, oh, Lazarus, we love you, it's amazing, you're back. We just we it just wow. I'm not one to be adding to scripture, but I've got what they call a sanctified imagination, just like everybody else. And I can just imagine that. I can imagine that picnic Lazar's you just don't look as happy as we would expect someone to look if they had just come back from the dead. First of all, this picnic ain't nothing like the one I left. Amen. Secondly, I got to do that again. We all want to be in heaven. Amen. Nobody wants to take the ride, and we definitely don't want to have to do it twice. Lazarus is no longer with us because he died again. But Christ rose from the dead and is alive right now today, seated at the right hand of the Father forever making intercession for us. And he's never again going to taste death. So he's pre eminent in that regard. But he's also the first born in that there are others who now have the hope of resurrection from the dead because heroes from the dead. He defeated death, hell, and the grave, so he's pre eminent over death. God our Creator tasted death, how because God our Creator became men, our redeemer, so that he could be the head of the body the Church, not just the head overall creation, but the head of the body the Church and the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre eminent. By the way the word used there for pre eminence also makes it very clear that the term first born here is all about pre eminence. And then in verse nineteen there is a four. Just like in verse sixteen we had a four that explained what Paul meant, here we have a four that explains what Paul means. He's the head of the body of the church. He's beginning of the first born from the dead, so that in everything he might have pre eminence. Four in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And who in the man Jesus Christ, He wasn't just good man, he was God Man. In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Look with me, if you will at John John fourteen. John fourteen is just one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It just is for a number of reasons, not least of which is that the disciples let me know that I'm all right. They just do you know, Jesus, is you know, letting not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, Believe also in me my Father's house, so many mansions. I'm going to prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also. And then Thomas Thomas comes in and Thomas says, voting you all right, don't feel bad when you don't understand things, because because because I'm the guy who said Jesus that that sounds really good, and we would we absolutely absolutely want to be whereever you are. But can you give us directions? And then after that, when he makes this declaration, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father. Also from now on you do know him and have seen him. And right after that that declarative statement, when Thomas has been corrected, and you would think that everybody else would say, you know what, Thomas put his foot in his mouth. Jesus just made it very clear what he was talking about. Even if I don't understand, I'm just gonna chew on it for a while. But in verse eight Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father? How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. But the Father who dwells in me does his work. Believe me that I'm in the Father, and the Father is in me, or us believe on the count of the account of the works themselves, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Completely unimaginable, virtually unfathomable, that God would become a man. But that's exactly what happened. God, our Creator, became man, our redeemer, not only that verse twenty, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, and making peace by the blood of his cross. There's the why. The God who created the world and everything in it, the one who is preeminent over all creation, takes on a human nature so that he can redeem sinners. From a theological perspective, what happens here is that the first atom falls into sin, and all we in him fall because he is our federal head and the last atom, Jesus Christ, keeps the law and is completely and utterly righteous, whereas the first atom was not. And because of that he presents himself as the federal head to all of those who place their faith in him. So that we might find life in him. And as our federal head, Christ keeps the law on our behalf, so that his righteousness could be imputed to us, and dies the death that we owe so that our sinfulness can be imputed to him. And Paul takes all of that and puts it into this phrase making peace by the blood of His Cross. And then he goes on to explain in verse twenty one, why does this matter? Why is it important that we believe that Jesus is not just a good man and a good teacher. Why is it important that we don't just join the rest of the world and say we'll take the parts of Jesus that we like, but the rest of it, the parts that confound us, the parts that are hard for us to embrace, those parts will leave. Because if he is not God, our creator, then he cannot be Man, our redeemer, verse twenty one. And you who once were alienated and hostile and mind and doing evil deeds. By the way, notice this trifecta. Why did you need this? Why do we need the god Man? Because we're alienated from God, because we're hostile in mind toward God. And because in that alienation and that hostility. We are engaged in evil deeds, and we serve a holy and righteous God who cannot let that go. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. That's why, because if he were a mere man like us, born of ordinary generation, then he would have been under the federal headship of Adam, just like you and just like me. He would have inherited Adam's sin, just like you and just like me, and as such as a mere man, it would not have mattered how outwardly good he was. He would have had a sin nature that had to be accounted for, a sin nature that had to be redeemed. And there is nothing that he could do, nothing he could have done in order to take that away from himself. Just like you, just like me, he would have been alienated and hostile in mind, and he would have been doing evil deeds. But he was not born of ordinary generation. He's the god man who was born of a virgin, who therefore did not inherit Adam's sin and in his own because of that, because he didn't inherit Adam's zen, he could atone for hours, which is exactly what he did. He reconciled us in his body of flesh by his death in order to present us holy, blameless and above reproach in him in Christ under his federal headship. And that's our only hope, that's our only answer. And Paul makes that clear in verse twenty three, because there's an if clause there, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I Paul became a minister. In other words, we have to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, as he has been presented, which takes us right back to where we began. There are indeed people who think very highly of Jesus, and they're fine as long as Jesus stays a man for many of them, as long as he stays the baby and the manger amen for others. He doesn't have to just stay the baby in the manger. He can actually grow up, but he has to grow up into the man who is the picture of love and morality that I can embrace. So he has to be a picture of love and morality who said some things that I can rip, kicking and screaming out of context and put on a billboard encouraging women to come to my state to kill their babies in the womb. He has to be a picture of love and morality that I can just drag, kicking and screaming out of the scriptures and say, how can you, as a Christian, say that you're against marriage equality when Jesus preached love, when he never spoke against homosexuality. Stop me if you've heard these before. In other words, I find in Jesus someone whom I can use to justify my lifestyle. So they're fine if he stays the baby and the manger, and they're fine if he grows up as someone that they can use and manipulate in order to promote whatever it is that they want to promote. But when he stands as the god Man, when he stands as the one who creates the world and everything in it, when he stands as the one who's pre eminent overall creation, when he stands as the one who sustains the world. When he stands as the one who's king of kings and Lord of lords, when he stands as the one who laid down his life to die for sin, because as God, he takes sin that seriously. Well, now it's a different story, and Paul says, the only way that this means anything for you that is of any use is if you believe that Jesus is everything that the scriptures say he is. You don't get to use him for your purposes. He gets to use you for his because he's not running for God, he just is. This is why we not only sing about him, but we sing to him. This is why we not only learn and value his words, but we worship him. We adore him, We surrender our very lives to him, because he is indeed the God Man. He is Jesus Christ, God, our Creator, Jesus Christ Man, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, master, Redeemer, and friend. Let's pray, God, our Father. We bow before you tonight in the midst of a world that continues to refuse to kiss the Son. We bow before you tonight, in the midst of a world that continues to desire to use you for its own purposes, to use your son, our Lord, our Master, our Savior for their own purposes. We bow before you in the midst of a world that is offended when Jesus becomes anything more than that which they desire. And yet we bow before you and humble adoration, acknowledging that you are our God, the God and fought of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We bow before you in humble gratitude for the person and work of Christ. When we bow before you, pleading with you that you would grant us grace not only to hold firmly to these truths, but to proclaim them in the midst of a world that hates them unless and until, and apart from the quickening work of your spirit. And so, Father, we pray that you would continue to put your word in our mouths, and that you would continue, by the power of your spirit, to make them effectual. That we might proclaim the truth of the Gospel, that we might proclaim the glories of the God Man, and that as we do so, you would call lost sinners to yourself, and that Christ would indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Thank you for reminding us once again of our great need and your great provision. We pray these things, Believe these things, and hope in these things, because we ask them in that name that is above every name, that name at which every knee will bow, and heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. To the glory of God the Father and Jesus name. We pray Amen.